I spent many hours in showrooms as a kid and then as a teenager and as a
college student, upon graduation and securing a job, I wanted a new car the
next spring
I deliberately dressed down like a bum, dirty t-shirt, torn bluejeans,
raggedy tennis shoes and went car shopping.
It was 1984, I was 24 and was torn between a 944, an Audi Coupe or a VW
GTi, all at the same dealership. Having visited the lot the night before
when it was closed,
I already knew what I wanted to talk about, what they cost, what features
they had and did my research on what i though I could buy each of them for.
The next day, I drove over in my TR-6 with the top down, parked it across
the street at a shopping center and walked onto the lot, not one, two or
three salesman ignored me.
but about six, the seventh was an older man, he was nice, friendly and very
down to earth. He asked if he could help me and proceeded to let me drive
the three cars ( aggressively as well ),
went over the numbers with me and wasn't condescending in the slightest
manner. I chose the Audi GT Coupe ( loved that car and always pretended it
was a Quattro ).
When we were doing the paperwork, I asked him why he waited on me, when
nobody else would. He said that as a younger salesman, that " once upon a
time, a man dressed in overalls, covered in mud
and smelling of pig@#$% came into the dealership with two 16 year old
girls, they looked dirt poor. Nobody with experience would wait on them
and so he as the new guy got the nod,
The girls walked around a bit and each selected a different colored drop
top Bug and the old man said to him, them'll do. The salesman said which
one and the old man said, both, and then he pulled out a
wad of 100's that would choke a horse. Turns out that he owed a pig farm, a
really big pig farm, like 5,000 pigs on hundreds of acres about 50 miles
outside of town. Ever since then, I wait on everybody."
Then I wrote a check for that car, $13,800 and he followed me in it so I
could drive my TR-6 home and then I took him back to the dealership.
Not that it matters to my story, but I slept that night in the front seat,
just smelling my first new car.
Michael Shortt
On Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 10:44 AM, Thomas Witt <atwittsend@verizon.net>wrote:
> Other than referring to it as the "local" dealer Jay never mentioned what
> is (or was) self proclaimed as the "World's largest auto mall." Such a
> place resides about mid point between where Jay and I respectively live.
> Thus, I assume this is the location where his interest was dismissed. I'm
> not surprised. Years ago I had a friend that went to the mall fully
> intended to purchase a Honda Odyssey. While he had the appearance of "Uncle
> Jed," he also had Jed's money - intending to pay cash for his purchase.
> After 20 minutes in the showroom, and being ignored by the sales staff, he
> left and took his money elsewhere.
>
> Tom
>
>
> Jay,
>> Let me try to understand this, your erstwhile salesman told you that you
>> shouldn't want to look at the BRZ/FRS, because why? He's out of stock,
>> where's
>> a waiting list for it?
>> Did management tell him to stop selling them? Does
>> management know he's greeting prospective buyers like this? This is a
>> hoot.
>> It's like a Ford salesman telling a prospective
>> Mustang buyer late in 1964,
>> "Nope, you don't want one of these, no one does". I'd go, "Next salesman,
>> please."
>>
>> Rande
>>
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Michael L. Shortt
Savannah, Georgia
www.michaelshortt.com
michael@michaelshortt.com
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